Category:
Sri Lanka may have 20,000 illegals mainly from Pakistan, India: report
Oct 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may have about 20,000 guest workers, mainly from India and Pakistan working as labourers, domestic workers, cooks and waiters in restaurants in several towns without proper authority, a media report said. Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Times newspaper said the number was an ‘official estimate’ but the island’s immigration […]
Hotel Sale
Oct 17, 2010 (LBO) – Depositors of Sri Lanka’s failed Golden Key Credit Card Company, an unregulated finance firm, may get some cash when a part of the money from a hotel connected to the firm is sold, a media report said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to meet two Golden Key depositor associations on […]
‘s war probe slams rights groups
October 15, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government-appointed war probe Friday reprimanded foreign rights groups that rejected an invitation to testify and said the local panel should not be judged by “preconceived notions”. Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) said it will “strongly safeguard” its independence despite the “ill-founded misgivings” of three international […]
Sri Lanka rulers can set example by paying taxes: ex public servant
Oct 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s rulers can set an example to the people by starting to pay taxes and the increasing privileges of elected officials can permeate wider into a bloated state, a retired public servant who has spent his life batting on the side of the people said. “For instance there is […]
Sri Lanka stocks becalmed
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed flat Friday, as price gains on selected high value and midcap shares offset selling by retail investors taking defensive positions, while index heavy John Keells Holdings continued to slide, brokers said. The Colombo All Share Index closed up 0. 07 percent (4.78 points) to 6,626.86 points, […]
Sea Links
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – India and Sri Lanka have agreed on and initialled a draft agreement to resume ferry services between the two neighbours that was disrupted by the island’s ethnic war, a statement said. “The two sides agreed on the text of the Memorandum of Understanding for passenger transportation by sea between the […]
Sri Lanka plantations look to extend productivity link
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations industry is looking to extend a productivity linked pay scheme when talks on renewing a wage deal with labour unions begin early next year, an official said. Lalith Obeysekere, chairman of the Planters’ Association, which represents regional plantations corporations, said the industry is satisfied with gains from […]
Boycott
NEW YORK, October 14, 2010 (AFP) – International human rights groups declined Thursday to appear before a Sri Lankan probe into the end of the country’s civil war, saying the procedure was flawed and lacked credibility. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), London-based Amnesty International and Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) snubbed an invitation to […]
Software Piracy
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka still has work to do to better protect intellectual property rights whose violations are of concern to the United States, a visiting US government official said. Michael Delaney, assistant US trade representative for central and south Asia, said IP rights protection and software piracy were some of the […]
Sri Lanka 2011 budget process gets underway
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s 2011 budgeting process will get underway with the presentation of an ‘appropriation bill’ in parliament on October 19, and planned deficit of 7.0 percent of the economy from around 8.0 for the current year. Tax revenues have also been in line with nominal GDP growth at 18.3 percent […]
Sri Lanka may trim 25 taxes on business to 15: official
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – A report on reforms to Sri Lanka’s complex national and regional taxes will recommend consolidating 25 different existing taxes into 15 or lower, a member of an expert committee said. Saman Kelegama, a member of a presidential commission on taxation, and head of Sri Lanka’s Institute of Policy Studies, a […]
Sri Lanka mini-hydro firm looks for cash to expand
Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hydro Power Free Lanka is looking for 350 million rupees in equity to build three new plants while the firm also has a revenue stream from two existing plants, officials said. Hydro Power Free Lanka posted revenues of 114. 9 million rupees and earned profits of 56.7 million […]